


Sick As A Dog

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: Fluff, M/M, More Fluff, Post-Movie(s), Pre-Slash, Sickness, Tony's bad at being sick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-27
Updated: 2012-05-27
Packaged: 2017-11-06 02:18:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/413626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony never gets sick. Luckily, he's got a doctor in the house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sick As A Dog

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first posting of any kind on here so I hope you all like it!
> 
> You can never have too much Avengers fluff.

Tony _never_ gets sick. Ever. It just doesn't happen. The last time he'd gotten sick was when he was nineteen, and it was bronchitis that refused to go away for two and a half weeks. After that he'd promised himself that he was never going to get sick again.

Until twenty years later, where he finds himself curled up under his mass of blankets, head pounding, sinuses plugged, and torn between telling JARVIS to turn the air conditioning up or blast the heat.

He's fairly sure he can just stay in bed and waste away until he's healthy again. After all, it wouldn't be that hard. He'd get water from somewhere, and that's all he needs, right? That's all he wants to think about right now, anyway. Hell, he doesn't even want to think about that. He doesn't want to think about anything except not being sick anymore.

His plan to sleep forever is working pretty well until there's a knock on his door. Quiet, as if whoever it was didn't want to wake him up in case he was sleeping. Shows how well that worked out.

"Tony?" It's Bruce. "You in there?"

Tony knows he should respond. This is Bruce. Bruce who's been living in Stark Tower for two months now, is finally starting to really look comfortable there. Who's probably realized that if Tony hasn't shown his face _anywhere_ , including the lab, it means he's either dead or not in.

So he tries to respond, but the noise he makes ends up being somewhere between a 'yeah,' and a groan, followed quickly by a hoarse cough. Damnit, he's thirsty.

"Okay, I'm coming in."

And Tony doesn't even feel like protesting when the door opens. He's still hiding in his blankets, naked except for his boxers, and he still feels like moving would just be a bad idea.

"You feeling okay?"

Bruce really doesn't need to answer that. Of course Tony's not okay. If he was, he would've been putsing around the Tower all day. Instead, it's getting closer to five o'clock and he's lost somewhere in a giant tangle of blankets. Bruce walks over to the bed, sits down, and tugs carefully at the blankets until he unburies Tony's head. He raised a hand, puts it on his forehead, and frowns.

"You're burning up," he says, and sighs. "Okay, come on. You need to cool off."

The blankets start disappearing and Tony actually _whines_ and curls up tighter, but Bruce gets the blankets away from him. He knows Tony probably has some kind of shot somewhere in the Tower that can just get rid of the fever in a second, but really, Bruce prefers doing things the natural way. 

And he has a feeling Tony's body could use something done the natural way, for once.

"JARVIS, can you drop the temp in here a bit?" Bruce asks, pushing a hand through Tony's greasy hair and frowning. "On second thought, keep it where it is. Can you control the showers?"

"Yes, sir. All of the sinks and other plumbing as well."

"Great. Can you start up a cool one for Tony?"

"Right away, sir."

Bruce looks at Tony, then chuckles. At this point, Tony's pulled one of the pillows over his head, and is groping for the blankets again.

"Shower time, bud," Bruce says, and reaches over to get a hold of Tony, moving him to the edge of the bed. The original plan is to help Tony into the bathroom, but trying to walk just ends up with Tony complaining that the room's spinning and the floor's upside down and Bruce just picks him up to get him to shut up.

"Holy shit, I'm off the ground! Bruce, we're taking off!"

Well, it's better than having Tony practically dragging him to the floor, anyway.

Bruce gets Tony into the shower, sitting propped up against the wall, and ends up taking his boxers off. Wet, soapy clothes would just be a pain in the ass, even if it's something so small. Besides, Bruce is a doctor. He's seen plenty of naked people. And this is just Tony, albeit a feverish and delusional version.

"If you wanted me naked, Brucie, all you had to do was ask," Tony says, and he's grinning, opening his eyes and waggling his eyebrows at Bruce. Then he coughs, frowns, and mutters something about cold water.

"Yeah, yeah."

Bruce takes his time getting Tony clean, scrubbing at his hair, his shoulders, across his back and his legs. The cold water's helped, too, and Tony's fever breaks. He dries Tony off and gets him a clean pair of boxers and pajama pants to put on before carrying him into the bedroom.

"I'll be right back. You just… try not to move and break anything, okay?" Bruce says, ruffling Tony's hair. Tony just grunts and wraps himself up in a blanket again.

Normally, Tony might have protested to being taken care of. But right now he's a combination of too sick and too in awe of Bruce actually playing doctor to protest. Because this is _Bruce_ and he's carrying him around and cleaning him off and hey, Bruce just saw him naked and all Tony got out of it was a chuckle.

Damnit, why did he have to be sick?

Bruce is back in a couple of minutes, carrying a bowl of soup, a big bottle of water, a box of tissues, and a jar of Vapo Rub. Before Tony knows it, he's being propped up against the headboard and given the steaming bowl of what appears to be chicken noodle soup.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Eat up, sicko. The steam will help with your sinuses."

And Tony makes a really valiant effort at feeding himself, he does. But his hand's shaking and he keeps coughing and he feels pretty drunk right now, anyway, so Bruce takes the bowl and the spoon and ends up feeding him.

Never in his life did Tony think he'd end up being spoon-fed chicken noodle soup and nursed back to health by Bruce Banner. But hey, he's not complaining.

When the soup's gone, Bruce makes him drink a decent amount of water. Something about flushing the thing out of his system, or something along those lines. By the time he's done drinking, he just wants to sleep again, and Bruce lets him. He keeps coughing, though, so Bruce opens up the jar of Vapo Rub and-

"That's my feet!"

"Yeah, I know."

"You don't cough through your feet, Bruce."

"I'm pretty aware of that."

" _Why_ my feet?"

"Just lay down, Tony."

Tony frowns, not entirely convinced on the whole thing, but Bruce is pulling a pair of socks over his feet to keep the Vapo Rub on and Tony huffs, laying back down again. His eyes are closed when he feels the bed shift, and he realizes Bruce is getting up to leave.

"Bruce?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you stay in here?"

Bruce has to pause at that, and turns around to look at Tony. Tony, wrapped up in a blanket, his face flushed, sounding more like a frog than a person, and looking at him with the most pathetic expression on his face. Maybe Bruce's heart melts a little. Maybe. And maybe he's just looking for an excuse to lay down with Tony.

But maybe Tony's looking for the same thing.

Sighing, Bruce crosses back over to the bed and lays down, sliding in so he's close enough to Tony to make a difference. He figures Tony's just going to be happy with that, but of course he should've known he wasn't, because Tony's rolling over to push his face in against Bruce's chest, and _woah_ , his hot hand is sliding under Bruce's shirt. But it rests on his rib cage, and Bruce just raises an eyebrow, looking down at him.

He strokes a hand over Tony's damp hair, and before he can even say anything, Tony's snoring. Out like a light. Of course.

The next thing Bruce knows, he's waking up again. The clock tells him it's ten o'clock now. He hadn't really been tired, but naps have a weird way of sneaking up on him, and this one probably has something to do with the guy still curled up against his chest. Bruce's fingers run through Tony's hair again, and the latter shifts and sighs.

"Feeling better?"

"If I say yes, will you get out of bed?"

A pause. Bruce thinks about it for a second.

"No."

Smile. "Then yes."


End file.
